Book Review: House of Monstrous Women
Here’s my review of House of Monstrous Women by Daphne Fama. Don’t forget to leave a comment if you’ve read it or plan to read it. Then see today’s writing prompt at the bottom of this post.
House of Monstrous Women by Daphne Fama is a slow-burn gory horror novel that paints a vivid creepy picture that many readers will enjoy.
The graphic scenes and descriptions in the second half of the novel really came to life and gave me the creeps in a way that was hard to shake, offering an eerie vibe that’s perfect for this time of year. I felt the first half of the novel, however, was a bit slower moving and repetitive at times, and that there wasn’t much that happened. There was a lot of repeated backstory but not much else until ‘the game’ finally begins at over sixty-percent of the way into the novel, which is when everything starts to pick up.
Once the game finally began, the novel was hard to put down, so I recommend reading it well past halfway if you want to see all it has to offer. The longer you read the novel, the more you’ll find yourself immersed in gory scenes that are hard to step away from. You’ll encounter everything from bloody corpses to bug-fueled zombies to demonic-like possessions to creepy dolls and humanlike masks to labyrinth chase scenes that will keep your heart pumping until the Epilogue.
I also appreciated the feminist undertones of this novel and how the women of the cursed house dictated things, to a certain extent… I’m still weighing the significance and meaning of their witchlike motives and actions in the end, as well as Josephine’s role in what happened at the end. I must also admit that the main character Josephine drove me a little bananas at times, often coming across as a little weak (until some of the final scenes) and not all that smart or independent (especially when it came to Hiraya). I never truly understood Josephine’s motives or character in the end, but I’m unsure whether other readers will think the same? Likewise, I never understood the game the characters were playing and how it connected everything to the house, the curse, and the women, and how it was a game that others outside the family could also play(?).
Overall, I would recommend this book to readers who appreciate a slow-burn novel with gory scenes and sapphic undertones. It is a good book to read during the spooky months of the year, as well.
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Today’s Writing Prompt
Writing Prompt: Haunted House
Write a spooky scene that happens inside a haunted house.
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